Films about Law

Courtroom dramas allow for me to indulge in two of my favorite passions at the same time: law and film. As a Television-Radio major and a legal studies minor, I absolutely jump at the chance to see any movie that can combine the two. Here are a list of my favorite movies that incorporate the courtroom:

1. 12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men is a 1957 film about a group of jurors who must reach a unanimous decision, but due to the one juror refusing to commit to a verdict, it is revealed that there is more to the case than it seems at first.







2. Philadelphia

 Philadelphia is a 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington that follows the plight of a man with AIDS and his lawyer to advocate for the unethical and baseless termination of a homosexual man with an illness.






3. To Kill a Mockingbird

In 1930's Alabama, during the height of segregation and racial injustices, a white man named Atticus Finch steps to the plate to defend an African-American man accused of raping a local, poor white woman.








Kramer vs. Kramer

During a divorce, a man must duke it out with his wife in family court to earn custody of his son, and along the way finds out what it means to be a father.











5. Legally Blonde

A rich and ditzy sorority girl applies and gets admitted to Harvard Law School in an attempt to win back her scholarly boyfriend. While there, she is assigned to a murder case and finds her true calling.






6. My Cousin Vinny

Two young boys are wrongly accused of murder in a small southern town, and the only person they have to turn to is their inexperienced, wise guy cousin Vinny from New York.







If you haven't seen any of these, definitely give them a try. This list is the perfect mix of heart-rendering drama, entertaining comedy, and nail-biting tension!

-Melanie Saitta

And what about civil law?

Several recent links and posts have discussed the blur between real and virtual in the realm of criminal acts. The link regarding "Ageplay sim eyes new grid," for example, explains that child porn may be available in SL (if it's not already). Porn is obviously alive and thriving in SL, which is not illegal.. but the idea of sex acts with children is very disturbing, even in a virtual sense. Obviously, no real child is being harmed... in this case... but, where do we draw the line of illegal behavior. It's like the people who have asked... is it infidelity if you have virtual sex outside of marriage? I have heard strong opinions from both sides. Even Dennis' comment about virtual rape raises many questions. We don't know the people involved and what their emotional state is. For some, it is not merely "lighthearted play" and such an act could be very traumatising and could carry into their RL just as some nightmares haunt us.

On a less dramatic note, there have been many issues raised recently about fraud and privacy, especially among social networking sites that have made it into the courts. It would seem inevitable that the same will filter into SL. Even with all sorts of consent forms at sign-in (which maybe that was the small print most us never read in the "terms of agreement") which release not only Linden but the players of any liability, legal questions will emerge and be challenged. As one final example, there are many people now offering "advice" in SL. In RL we have to have licenses to "practice" in certain fields, such as psychology, and usually for good reason. To do so without a license is a felony offense. Who are these people offering such advice in SL and what are their credentials? Or... do avatars even care? Should they care? In RL, Dr. Phil has made kabillions of dollars offering advice... without a license... for years. Is it simply entertainment and we should let it go at that? I guess it's just a case of "buyer beware" at this point.

"Criminal Law in Virtual Worlds"

Orin S. Kerr from George Washington University - Law School writes:

...Criminal law is a blunt instrument that should be used only as a last resort. The state's power to deny individuals their freedom is an extraordinary power, and it should be reserved for harms that other mechanisms cannot remedy. Online virtual worlds may seem real to some users, but unlike real life, they are mediated by game administrators who can take action with consequences internal to the game. Internal virtual harms should trigger internal virtual remedies. It is only when harms go outside the game that the criminal law should be potentially available to remedy wrongs not redressable elsewhere.

You can download the entire paper here